Afternoon Update: Unrwa hits out at ‘man-made famine’; Moscow terror suspects in court; and Olivia Colman on the gender pay gap
Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, says Israel has definitively barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.
“Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the Israeli Authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any @Unrwa food convoys to the north,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency, said on X. “This is outrageous & makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine.”
Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Lazzarini’s statement. The Unrwa spokesperson, Juliette Touma, said the decision had been relayed in a meeting with Israeli military officials on Sunday.
Top news
Union leader among arrests at pro-Palestine protest | Nineteen people were arrested at Port Botany in Sydney on Sunday night. Protesters, including members of the Maritime Union of Australia, were demonstrating against the Israel-owned ZIM shipping company. Among those arrested was MUA’s Sydney branch secretary, Paul Keating, New South Wales police confirmed.
Suspects in Moscow terror attack appear in court | Four suspects have appeared in court in Moscow charged over the terrorist attack on the Crocus City concert hall on Friday that left 137 people dead. The men were officially identified as citizens of Tajikistan, the Tass state news agency said, and were remanded in custody for two months at Sunday’s hearing.
Russian soldier documentary did not breach ABC standards, ombudsman finds | Ukraine’s War: The Other Side, an immersive film about Russian soldiers on the front line, received 235 complaints after it was criticised as propaganda by the Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko. But the ABC ombudsman found it did not breach editorial standards and was not propaganda.
NSW police commissioner says appointment of media adviser under review | Karen Webb has revealed the appointment of a new police media adviser is under review after she received new information about the candidate. A spokesperson for NSW police told Guardian Australia the review of the appointment of the Channel Seven journalist Steve Jackson to the $320,000-a-year role “remains ongoing”.
Head of road policing apologises for speeding in unmarked work car | The assistant police commissioner responsible for road policing in Victoria has apologised after being caught driving at almost 10km/h over the speed limit while on the way to a meeting. Victoria police on Monday issued a statement confirming assistant commissioner Glenn Weir was caught speeding on 29 February in Parkville, in Melbourne’s inner north.
Blue Mountains welcomes new $10m Grand Cliff Top Walk | A $10m walking track in the Blue Mountains has been opened by the New South Wales government in the hope of attracting more international visitors to a region still healing from years of flooding and bushfires. It has been designed to last up to 100 years, the NSW government said, owing to the use of sandstone rather than timber for bushfire resilience.
Spectacular aurora australis expected | The aurora australis could be visible from Victoria to Western Australia this week after a severe geomagnetic storm erupted on the sun’s surface. The shimmering spectacle comes on the same night as a penumbral lunar eclipse, which will be visible across the nation.
Olivia Colman says she would be paid more if she was a man | Olivia Colman has criticised gender pay disparity in the film industry. “I’m very aware that if I was Oliver Colman, I’d be earning a fuck of a lot more than I am,” Colman said. “I know of one pay disparity which is a 12,000% difference. Do the maths.”
In Pictures
Australian F1 Grand Prix 2024 – in pictures
Carlos Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix just two weeks after having surgery, as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were both forced to retire. See more from the event here.
What they said …
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“I don’t feel like we have been slowed down at all … I think there are efforts to slow down the train, but the train is coming.”
Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case in that state, told CNN on Saturday that “the train is coming” for the former president despite defence efforts to derail her office’s pursuit of charges against him and nearly two dozen co-defendants.
Before bed read
‘I knew the facts about millennials but I wasn’t ready to admit the life my parents had would never be mine’
It took working on a podcast about what’s happening to young people for me to let go of the idealism about my future and face the sobering reality, writes Miles Herbert.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: MARS. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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This story was amended on 25 March. A previous version incorrectly spelt Olivia Colman’s last name.
